The term "rotational shiftwork" covers a wide variety of work schedules and implies that shifts rotate or change according to a set schedule. These shifts can be either continuous, running 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, or semi-continuous, running 2 or 3 shifts per day with or without weekends.

As the popularity of shift work and other “alternative work schedules” grows, concern is increasing over the disturbance created in the lives of workers and their families by these economically and socially useful innovations. Twenty percent of workers are unable to tolerate shift work.

Work schedules which include shift work and/or long hours are associated with health and safety risks. This page provides links to NIOSH publications and additional resources that address demanding work schedules including evening shift, night shift, rotating shifts, irregular schedules, and long work hours.

Some workers only work on the two day shifts, some only nights, while others rotate through all three shifts with variable degrees of speed of rotation and direction of rotation. Extended hours of work is generally accepted to mean working more than 48 hours a week. This can occur on either day work or shift work due to either a high number of ...

Shift work provides a number of nonpecuniary ad-vantages for some workers. Working evenings or nights allows employees more free time during the day and, in the case of rotating shift work, to accumulate several days off in a row on a regular basis. Some workers en-joy a variety of rotating shifts, while others appreciate

Rotating and scheduling are the main characteristics of shift work and nurses are largely locked into schedules that provide 24-hour care and include night shift work.3 An author has noted that “shift workers are creators and victims at the same time” of this new work organization.4 Shift work, and night shift in particular, is one of the ...